Vended is composed of Griffin Taylor and Simon Crahan, the sons of Slipknot members Corey Taylor and Shawn Crahan respectively. Vended made their Manchester debut at a sold-out Rebellion in what could be the hottest show of the year, literally and figuratively.
Graphic Nature opened the show and they won over the crowd really early with their aggressive and forceful breakdowns. They’re a nu metal band so their music is fairly simple by design but that’s what makes it so effective. Tracks like ‘White Noise’ have very clear Slipknot influence but with more of an electronica beat which makes them blend into the crowd a little bit but that doesn’t make their music any less impactful even if it is really edgy.
Graphic Nature feels like a throwback act in that they have a nu metal gimmick, in this case, everyone but the vocalist is wearing a windbreaker which gives Eden Lake vibes from a cursory glance. Most older people will remember David Draiman from Disturbed being wheeled on stage like Hannibal Lecter as he broke out of a straitjacket and Graphic Nature visually evoked that and so did Vended but more on that later.
Lake Malice came on shortly after and they seemed much more at home than when they last played Manchester with Bloodywood. Despite the more willing crowd, the sound was a bit questionable with a really thin guitar tone struggling to push through the rest of the mix. The band was on their A-game despite all these problems and delivered a wild set helmed by possessed frontperson, Alice Guala.
The set was filled with raucous crowd-pleasers like the angst-filled seething buildup of ‘Black Turbine’ and the drum n bass-inspired ‘Bloodbath’. ‘Stop the Party’ sounds like it could be a Die Antwoord song if you squint with your ears. The pounding drum work on this track alone is worth the price of admission.
Lake Malice are sure to become a bridging point between genres due to their willingness to experiment but it’s their skilful songwriting that will ultimately push them through to the mainstream in the alternative scene if you’ll excuse the oxymoron. See them before they blow up, they’re already well on their way.
Vended finally took the stage armed with nothing but their instruments, a face full of makeup and an insane drive to prove that they are more than just Slipknot Jr. Vended is fronted by Griffin Taylor, son of Corey Taylor and you can tell this from his primal scream and formidable stage presence where he’s learned some of his dad’s tricks.
For the first few years of Vended’s career, the Slipknot comparisons will be inevitable because they’re the easiest frame of reference but they can bring the pain on a smaller and more intimate scale than Slipknot can and that makes them even more deadly in some respects.
The Manchester show was full of mosh pit veterans who have seen and survived things mainstream music fans can only imagine. From the very first song, ‘Ded to Me,’ the middle of the room was dominated by a swirling vortex of insanity that only got more unhinged as the show got more intense.
By the time the band started ‘Overall,’ Griffin Taylor had sweated off all of his makeup as he commanded complete and total control over the audience. The backing band had an incredibly tight rhythm section led by Simon Crahan who brings massive amounts of power on tracks like ‘Burn My Misery’ and adds this bombastic nature that only a seasoned veteran can bring.
Vended continued their set with ‘Antibody’ and this is where the Slipknot parallels reached critical mass. If you were to put ‘Antibody’ in a Slipknot playlist, I’d have believed it was a lost track from Iowa, it has the same level of violent intensity we’ve come to expect from the boys from Dez Moine.
‘Asylum’ was the final track and Manchester made the most of it. Crahan’s drumming and Jeremiah Pugh’s bass work are sure to make this a metal club classic in the years to come and there’s even a ripping guitar solo to cap off the night before Rebellion becomes rubble for the breakdown.
Vended is a band for those who prefer the self-titled era Slipknot, a band this young will usually stick to what they know before becoming more confident about what they want to sound like. This may sound like criticism but to have this much of a realised sound so early into their career is incredible and it will only become more well-rounded as they hone their craft.
